Tonight was Lance's night.

He was in his element. Like a fish in water. A penguin on ice. Or some third thing.

High society. Formal wear. Dancing. The ladies.

Lance had it all down pat.

"Why are you grinning so… creepily?"

His smile fell and he glared over at the green paladin as she gave him annoyed stare.

"C-Creepy?! What do you mean creepy?!" Lance snapped angrily.

He ground his teeth as Pidge just continued to stare at him. "Oh wait, lemme guess! You're gonna take this ball thing as a chance to hit on girls aren't you?"

He couldn't hide the blush. "N-No I wasn't!"

Pidge just rolled her eyes and refocused her attention on the screen in front of her.

"Allura said it was a formal get together right? I'm a little surprised they have stuff like that out here." Hunk put in. Likely trying to change the subject.

Lance decided he'd cut his best bud a break. At least this time.

"Hey, even aliens have a need to party."

"You realize it's a diplomatic ball right?" Pidge asked. "Not exactly spring break back on earth."

"Of course I know that! You are talking to the diplomatic master!"

"I think you mean diplomat." Hunk corrected gently.

"Yeah, that."

Pidge snorted but made no further comment.

Lance stood in place and stared at the back of Pidge's head. She'd been acting short tempered (no pun intended… this time) ever since Allura had announced her plan to attend and court some willing allies in their battle against Zarkon. Really something like that should have put Pidge in a good mood rather than a foul one.

Uncontrolled curiosity aside, having so many aliens in one place would give Pidge a chance to dig out some information on her father and brother. So her critical attitude didn't make any sense. Now if she'd been goofy or serious that would have been something else.

She'd have found the whole idea hilarious if it'd just been a passing break, rather than a diplomatic mission that could affect the very future of the universe. Seeing weird and unusual aliens and trying to figure out how they (but mostly their tech) worked had to be one of the green paladins favorite pass times.

And given that people there would undoubtedly be talking about the galra…

Lance felt a twinge of regret at his loss for an explanation. He'd never understood Pidge as well as the others. He hadn't even managed to figure out she was actually a GIRL on his own.

For awhile Lance had convinced himself that he knew Pidge well enough, just not in terms of brass facts. He could recognize when she was upset, knew what kind of food goo she liked to eat, and could immediately tell where she was on the ship at any point in time based entirely on her almost nonexistent habits.

But at the moment he felt a little like he had at the Garrison. As though Pidge didn't like him, disliked associating him, and secretly threw darts at his picture when they were alone. At the time he'd taken the behavior as a sort of social challenge. To make friends with this tiny sassy cadet at the earliest possible convenience.

Knowing what he did now, that had likely only pushed Pidge farther away.

Her mission had been important to her. It was still important to her. And she couldn't afford to risk it just because one pilot insisted on sneaking her out of the garrison to go pick up girls because he was a blind idiot who couldn't figure out she wasn't a boy.

Of course Hunk hadn't known at the time either. But that was different. Back then Hunk had been all about minding his own business and keeping his head down. So staying out of Pidge's business had just been par for the course.

Course none of that really mattered anyway. His inability to figure things out had likely convinced Pidge that Lance was an idiot. Of course she would think that. Pidge was a genius whereas Lance was a wannabe pilot who could only make it to fighter class because someone better happened to drop out.

Doing his best to suppress a sigh, Lance left the main control room and headed to his quarters.

They'd be arriving at the location of the ball soon, and he had a lot of personal grooming to do before he'd be ready to accompany a certain lady onto the dancefloor.

If there were a soft padded wall somewhere nearby, Pidge would have punched it.

She'd been happy when Allura had told them about the diplomatic ball. It sounded like a chance for a good time. And though it was a slim chance, there was also the possibility of hearing something about Matt and her dad.

It was an empty hope, she knew. Pidge had chased after much more promising leads in the past, and been handed a steaming plate of disappointment in return for her efforts. But she couldn't help but allow that hope to rise every time they came across a large get together like this. Because if she didn't keep her hopes up, Pidge was very much afraid she'd eventually feel inclined to giving up.

And that couldn't be allowed. Not at all.

So despite the more logical side of her mind, Pidge had been excited. Of course, then Lance had to open his big stupid mouth.

"So, among these diplomats there's bound to be some princess's? Or y'know duchess's, baroness's, what have you?"

Allura gave a sigh big enough to blow them all over. "Yes Lance."

The grin he gave pissed Pidge off.

She couldn't explain WHY it pissed her off. Lance grinned like that all of the time. In fact the two of them often grinned together.

Lance often smiled. It was just something he did. Despite the fact that any of them could die any day now, the blue paladin insisted on smiling when he was with the group. Though she pretended not to be affected by it, his smiles did make Pidge feel better.

It reminded her that he liked being around her. That he had fun spending time with her. And for some reason that made her whole body feel lighter than air.

But that whole feeling would swiftly leave her body and be replaced with the heavy and persistent feeling of annoyance whenever Lance pretended he was some kind of casanova. Not only was it embarrassing, but it made the whole group collectively groan in chorus. Really it was an interesting musical effect.

And when Lance got like that, Pidge couldn't feel excited about anything. Now she just wanted this whole diplomatic get together to get underway and done with as quickly as possible.

After finishing her work, Pidge shut her computer and headed off to the hangar to go work on Green.

Whenever she felt anxious or unsure of herself, Pidge always found herself going one of three places. She either went to Shiro, the green lion, or hung out with Lance and Hunk to take her mind off things.

Shiro was busy going over the safety precautions they would take at the ball with Coran (no reason to think nothing could go wrong after all), and Hunk was off preparing the comm devices he and Pidge had put together to use when they couldn't use their armor's helmets.

And she couldn't go to Lance. She didn't want to see him right now. Not until all of this was over.

So that left Green. It was a sad day when the only person you could talk to was a robot space cat, but there it was.

"Is something the matter Pidge?"

She nearly dropped her computer.

Princess Allura had appeared behind her. The swiftly closing door behind her seemed to indicate that she had only just come upon Pidge in the hallway.

"O-Oh… it's you."

"You look at little," she paused here. Likely trying to pick a phrase that wouldn't be insulting. "Irritated?"

"I'm fine." Pidge pouted. "Lance is just been annoying me that's all."

"Ahh~"

The suggestive ejaculation made the green paladins eyes narrow.

"Aaaanyway… I thought you were preparing to leave for the ball. With Lance."

"Wait, what makes you think I'm going with Lance?"

"Well I mean Lance said-"

Allura cut her off. "Pidge. Did nobody tell you?"

Pidge stiffened and backed away. "T-tell me what?"

The princess smiled and gave a girlish squeal that made Pidge's heart fill with dread.

"She seriously didn't realize we weren't sending you down there?" Keith asked.

"And why should she assume that?" Allura replied in a dangerous tone.

"Uhh…" For once Keith followed his better judgement and changed the subject. "Is Lance ready yet?"

"OH" They both turned to the door to see Lance standing there. "I'm ready."

The blue paladin stood there in what could only be considered formal altean dress. The main suit was a dark blue with light blue trims along the ends and two white chevrons carefully placed on the center of the chest. Draped over his shoulders was a long blue coat that barely trailed across the floor as he walked. It was secured with a metal fastener designed after some kind of flower Keith couldn't recognize.

The really shocking part was just how well the whole effect seemed to work on Lance. He stood straight, and tall. It was like he'd been wearing such things his whole life. With one gloved hand the blue paladin primly dusted off his shoulder, and smiled at the other two.

"So how does it look?" he asked with all the confidence of a duke.

"Like a peacock." Keith muttered.

Lance glowered at him.

Before a fight could break out Allura inserted herself into the conversation. "It looks amazing on you! Does everything fit?"

"Like a second pair of skin!" Lance's prideful demeanor returned as he placed a hand on his chest as if to accentuate the statement.

"Oh the two of you are going to look great together!"

Lance blinked. "Uh, come again?"

"By the way, where is Pidge?" Keith asked. "Isn't she ready yet?"

"Wait, Pidge?" Lance straightened. "B-But I… I mean I thought…"

"Oh I KNOW what you thought." Allura eyed him critically. "But I'd attract too much attention. The galra know me by sight but you-" here she pointed her finger at the paladin. "-have only been seen in your armor. Honestly it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't even realize Pidge was female."

Lance blushed in the way any boy who had been told off by his mother or favored sister blushed.

"As for Pidge," The princess turned towards one of the open doors. "How long are you planning to hide there?"

Keith's and Lance's eyes drifted to the door.

"I-I'm not going!" Pidges voice floated in through the room. But it's tone wasn't normal.

It occurred to Lance that her voice was quieter. Shyer.

"Oh come on!" Allura hurried over to the door. "We spent too much time getting you ready for you to back out now!"

"F-find someone else!" PIdge's voice had reached a desperate pitch.

It took all of Lance's willpower not to rush over while reaching for the bayard kept hidden under his coat. He and Pidge had been in too many battles together. Her voice almost NEVER reached the kind of pitch she had just used. The only times her voice ever came even close was when she was outnumbered and in desperate need for backup.

Rushing to her aid had almost become instinct at this point.

Allura pulled the green paladin out from behind the door, with Pidge pulling back like a fussy toddler.

Despite the less than ladylike behavior, Lance still caught his breath.

The dress seemed to be made up of the same material Allura's was. The skirt was a dark green with a stretch of teal material wrapped around the hips and running down the center of the skirt. The bodice was the same color as the skirt with silver embroidery decorating the front. Out from the top of the bodice emerged a light green see-through material that covered Pidge's shoulders and ran down her arms as a pair of loose sleeves. Only ended at her throat where it stay secured by a lace choker, and at her hands where a ring secured to the material had been slipped onto Pidge's middle fingers.

A sea green headband stood out against Pidge's light brown hair. It's embellishments formed images of long strings of flowers. From her ears hung a pair of long dangling earrings hanging from silver chains in ending in a teardrop shaped jade colored jewel.

The overall display was simply stunning.

And Pidge looked miserably embarrassed.

Lance couldn't avert his eyes.

"Well Lance?" Allura asked. "How does she look?"

"Uhhh," Lance blushed.

Pidge was staring down at her matching green shoes. They looked just like those fancy roman sandal shoes. The kind that ran up the leg. They were silver to match the outfit.

Lance swallowed. This was awkward.

Pidge was… well Pidge was beautiful. But he couldn't say that.

She may have thought he was an idiot, but the green paladin was still his friend. Calling one of his best friends beautiful, even if the word fit her appearance like a glove, was just…

Well it just wasn't done.

Oh he flirted with girls. Flirted with them all the time.

But that was different.

They were girls Lance didn't know. People he felt the intense need to impress because how else would a girl come to like him.

Pidge really knew him, and she didn't like him like… like that.

And if Pidge, one of his closest friends, could never see him in that light how could Lance ever expect anyone else to?

"She… She looks…" He struggled to grasp a word. Any word. Well, any word that wasn't insulting.

Stunning? Gorgeous? Those would just make Pidge more embarrassed. And then she'd get angry.

Cute? Adorable? She would definitely get angry if he used any of those.

"You, uh," Keith whispered at his side. "You gonna say something?"

Lance took a deep breath and said quietly, "Y-you look… nice."

Allura looked disappointed.

But PIdge raised her eyes from her shoes and gave him a small smile.

"Thanks."

The ball was absolutely grand.

Grander than anything either of them had ever seen.

The ship the party was being held on looked like some kind of silver atom display, with a million glittering lights all along its rims.

The inside was large and expansive, with a giant crystal hanging from the ceiling in the fashion of a chandelier. The light cast through the crystalline structure set a rainbow stream of hues throughout the room.

The effect was simply amazing.

Pidge's eyes shone in interest at the strange twisting nature of the architecture, while Lance blinked through the crowd at all the strange looking aliens who passed by.

They both likely would have stayed like that if not for the comm in their ears.

"Keep your eyes and ears peeled you two." Corans voice crackled through the ear pieces. "If you see anything suspicious, call it in."

Suspicious, right. Lance thought as he watched a large slug like alien pass by him leaving behind a noticeable trail of slime. Grimacing, he wondered if they'd even recognize anything suspicious with so much weird stuff surrounding them.

Pidge pulled him forward and they began mingling as best they could. All the while pretending that they came to this kind of thing all the time.

The closest thing to a ball lance had ever been to had been family weddings. But screwing up at his cousin's wedding had only resulted in his mother nearly pulling his ear off and scolding him. Screwing up here could result in a small war. Or worse.

Pidge was a bit more used to this sort of thing. She'd been to parties with her father's colleagues before but all she'd had to do was stay quiet and not cause too much of a fuss. Which was easy when she spent the whole time stuffing her face at the buffet. Here though, she wasn't sure if she was meant to eat the buffet or if the buffet was meant to eat her.

And just when they both thought they were finally getting the hang of the whole diplomat thing.

The music started.

At least what they assumed to be music. The tune appeared to be mostly made up of synthesized tones and an odd echo effect that Lance couldn't quite describe.

"Coran, what's going on?" Pidge's voice sounded nervous.

"Ohh, It's time for the Vista-groo!"

"The what?" Lance asked.

"Every hour the attendees perform a rhythm ritual in which they synchronize their movement with the audible pattern to create an effect."

It took their brains a few moments to translate. The green paladin's face paled as she reached the solution first.

"No no no!" Pidge's voice struggled to stay below a whisper. "Allura didn't say anything about this!"

Lance raised a brow at her reaction before it suddenly clicked.

"Ohh, you mean dancing."

"That's what I said!" Coran's voice sounded annoyed.

"No one said anything about dancing!"

Ignoring Pidge's complaints, Lance asked "Do we gotta dance a certain way or can we freestyle it?"

Pidge glared at Lance for ignoring her.

"Not really. It's supposed to be a display of the culture." Coran paused before asking. "Humans DO have a culture don't they?"

There was a muffled sound of something being hit over the comm as Allura's voice angrily scolded the manservant.

"Well, if it's just dancing Pidge and I have it cov-" He turned to find that the green paladin had disappeared.

Lance stood stunned, staring down at the empty space on the floor where the girl had once stood.

"Hello?" Shiro's voice came over the comm. "Is everything okay?"

Oh great. Shiro's on the line. Now Lance was in trouble.

"I, uh…" desperately the blue paladin scanned the heads around him. Or what could graciously be called heads. He sucked in a breath and unwillingly replied, "I… may have… lostsightofPidge."

Silence on the other end.

It was the worst possible reply. At times Lance wished Shiro was the type who got easily angered. Kinda like Keith. At least then he'd know he was just angry and not disappointed.

Shiro's reply was simple. "We'll try to connect to her over the comm. Meanwhile you're going to look for her. Alright?"

Lance swallowed. This was not a good situation.

Not only had he lost Pidge, but if he didn't find her again Shiro would be.. Not angry. He never really got angry at his fellow paladins. But he definitely wouldn't be happy.

Lance wouldn't be happy either. And not just because he'd have the whole team on his back.

He didn't know if Pidge had just wandered off, had been misplaced, or worse, if she'd been taken. If something, anything, had happened to her, Lance knew he'd never be able to live with himself.

The blue paladin's eyes narrowed and sharpened over the heads of the company. Lance had excellent eyesight. It was something that helped him with his marksmanship. But his eyes also had a habit of helping him in the field. Especially if he knew what he was looking for.

He stopped when he caught sight of a tiny familiar tint of brown hair. Lance's face hardened as he stalked across the ballroom, mostly going unnoticed by the many guests. The few who did notice him were the ones who were observant enough to understand that it would be an excellent idea to stand aside and pretend they hadn't noticed anything at all.

Eventually Lance came to one of the pillars that encircled the room and peered behind it.

There Pidge sat, her knees pulled to her chest, and staring very hard out the surrounding windows into the emptiness of space. With a pout of all things on her face.

Sighing, Lance dropped down next to her.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack." The green paladin didn't reply. "Did you not hear from the others over the comm?"

Pidge didn't remove her gaze from the window. "I took it out."

Lance knit his brow. "Well that wasn't very smart. What if something had happened?"

"If something does happen, I'll put it back in again and deal with it."

"Okay, what is up with you?" Lance asked. "Ever since Coran mentioned the whole Vika-grow thing, you've been acting off."

"I'm pretty sure you aren't pronouncing that right."

"Pidge." Lance's voice hardened. "I'm serious."

Her arms tightened around her knees. "I'm just doing what I'm good at! I'll stay here and watch and do reconnaissance while you run off and flirt and dance with anything remotely humanoid with a halfway decent figure."

"We're supposed to stick together." Lance leaned in closer, making sure to lower his voice so none of the other guests could hear him. "What're you gonna do if you get jumped or something? I'd be too far away to do anything about it!"

Pidge tore her gaze from the window and glared at Lance. "I can take care of myself!"

"Okay, but what if I get jumped!" Lance expounded. "I'm a long distance kinda guy Pidge, you know that."

A small twitch in her brow. Bullseye.

"The last thing you wanna do in a crowded place like this is pull out a rifle. Everyone would freak out. You're stinger is tiny, and so fast that people won't have time to panic before whoever's attacking us is down on the ground twitching."

The pout was disappearing, and turning into a much more agreeable, though still sullen, expression.

"Besides," Lance was sure he was getting close to the crux of the issue. He just needed to get Pidge relaxed to the point where she'd tell him what it was. "We're partners on this right? We gotta watch each other's backs."

With a sense of finality, Pidge's shoulders sagged.

"So tell me. What's the matter?"

She didn't want to look him in the eyes. If she looked him in the eyes now, everything might come spilling out.

The truth was that for a short while, for just a little bit, Pidge had felt like she might've had a chance. It'd been a silly thing for her to think. And the fact that that silly little thought had affected her so much had thrown her whole mind for a loop. Really, whether or not Lance thought she looked nice had never mattered before.

The way he flirted with girls all the damn time had certainly annoyed her, but it had never really mattered before. Seeing him act so self-assured in his own charisma, and then watching as he struck out with everything that could be considered remotely humanoid and attractive had even been funny at times.

But then Lance had said that she looked nice.

Before then there'd been a sort of divide between Pidge and most other members of the female gender. There was the half that got a lot of attention because they had a nice figure and a pretty face, and then there was Pidge's half. Where you ate peanut butter cookies, tinkered with crazy alien tech, and joked around with your friends about who could down green goo the fastest.

But then Lance had looked at her.

Really looked at her.

He'd said he thought she looked nice. He didn't laugh, or make fun of her. He'd said she'd looked NICE.

And just like that the divide went to pieces. Suddenly, she was on the other side. Among the kinds of people the blue paladin was willing to look at. Really look at.

It was all Allura's fault.

If she hadn't put her in this dumb dress, done up her stupid hair, and made her look NICE; Pidge wouldn't be feeling the way she felt now.

The fact of the matter was, that Pidge had realized something with a great deal of horror.

Lance thought she'd looked nice. And she'd liked it. It had made her happy.

While they mingled with the diplomats and talked to all of the alien races, she couldn't help but enjoy herself. She'd smiled when he'd smiled. Things were going great.

And then that blasted music had started and ruined everything.

Lance's eyes were still bearing into her forehead with a great deal of expectancy.

Pidge couldn't look at them. If she looked at them it would all come out.

How much she disliked the way he flirted with all those people. How much fun she had hanging out with him. How smart and skilled and handsome she thought he was.

And maybe, after all of that had flowed out. Something else would come out too.

So, instead, she stared at his shoulder and muttered the thing that had broken the small bit of hope she had. That threatened to rebuild that divide between her and all the other girls in the world.

"I… I can't dance."

"What?" Lance asked in disbelief.

"I can't dance. I-I've never really done it before." She shifted in embarrassment. "Few times I've tried, I look closer to a waddling duck than anything else."

Her eyes left Lance and went to the floor.

Oh sure, after getting dressed up by a freaking alien princess Pidge had somehow managed to pull off looking NICE. But once Lance saw what she was like on the dance floor, and saw how ridiculous she looked he'd forget all about how nice she'd looked.

Suddenly she wouldn't be worth really looking at anymore. Pidge would just be a teammate again. Not someone worth looking at.

The depressing feeling that had overtaken her fell away at the sound of Lance's snort.

"Is that all?"

Pidge stared at Lance as he barely contained the laughter.

A blush overtook her face. Her willpower fought against the hot tears that threatened to overtake her eyes.

"It's not funny!"

"Of course not." Lance stood up. "Yer embarrassed. I get it."

He offered her his hand.

Pidge looked at it and then back at the boy's face.

"C'mon. It's not that bad. It'll look suspicious if you keep sitting on the floor like that." Lance shrugged. "Besides, you'll get your dress dirty."

She blinked and took his hand, allowing him to haul her back onto her feet.

"There you go." He patted her arms and smiled at her. "Don't worry. I can dance y'know. Momma made me take lessons. You don't go to as many family get togethers where you're forced to dance with your cousins without learning how to avoid stepping on toes."

Pidge stared at his easy-going and good natured face.

His brown eyes were soft. His hands in hers were gentle.

"So I'll show you how to dance. I've got it completely covered. It's not really that hard once you get the hang of it.:

Her lips parted to protest but Lance's finger silenced her.

"Nope." he pulled her out from behind the pillar. "You don't get to argue this time."

Pidge couldn't help but snort at that.

Lance frowned. "What's so funny?"

"You, you just sound so… so…" here she burst out laughing.

"So? So what?!" Lance asked worriedly.

She shook her head. "Doesn't matter. Let's go!"

He had sounded so charming.

"Okay good. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, thr- OUCH."

"Sorry."

Lance winced as she removed her shoe from his foot. "No. No don't worry about it."

He managed to keep Pidge from falling over via the firm grip on her hip and hand.

"I-I told you I was bad at this." Pidge muttered, avoiding his gaze.

"Nah," Lance chuckled quietly. "You're not nearly as bad as my second cousin Lorraine. She once fell over at a family reunion and took the whole salad bar with her. You just bruise a few of my less essential toes."

Despite herself, Pidge laughed. "Just shut up."

"Pfft like you could make me."

The green paladin snorted.

As the music played on, Pidge's movements grew more and more accustomed to Lance's own rhythm. As it turned out, dancing was a lot easier with a partner.

Her grip tightened against his shoulder as she stared at his face. He was too busy watching their toes to notice.

It took her several moments just to say his name.

"Lance?"

"Hm?" He glanced at her.

She opened her mouth but closed it again.

The music was reaching a pitch.

"Listen," she began. "I-I wanna tell you something."

"Yeah? About what?"

She swallowed.

Maybe this wasn't the best time? Maybe she should wait?

Maybe…

Maybe he'd laugh.

NO.

Pidge shook her head. She couldn't afford to waste time thinking about what could go wrong. The sooner she got this out of the way the better.

"Lance?"

He smiled and blinked at her.

"I, uhm… I think I might…"

She could feel her heart beating against its cage.

"The… the thing is…"

Through the fancy gloves she could feel her hands getting clammy. Her head spun and her mouth was getting dry.

"I…" she took a breath. "I'm pretty sure that I'm-"

There was an explosion.

Both paladins froze.

Well Pidge froze anyway.

Lance twisted round and tackled Pidge behind the nearest table.

She lay there as Lance peered out over the table whilst drawing his bayard out from under his jacket. "It's the galra! They're here!"

Pidge's face was entirely red as she stared up at the ceiling.

"Cripes there's dozens of them!"

She stiffly sat up.

"Yeah, we could use some backup in here!" Lance yelled over the comm.

She'd been so close. So close.

"Pidge? Yeah, I found Pidge she's right here with me!"

And then the galra had ruined it.

"Okay Pidge, the others are on their way! We just have to hold things up here until-"

Pidge pulled out her bayard.

"Yeah, keep ahold of that. No telling if someone might come up from behind."

She stood up.

"What? What aroud doing?! Get down!"

"They ruined everything!" she screamed as she leapt over the table.

"Jesus christ Pidge, get back here!"

Lance looked at the charging back of Pidge, at the safety of the table, and then back at Pidge.

He sighed.

"She's lucky she's cute."

Lance stood up and charged.